Up From Human: The Rational Soul and the Spirit of Faith

Do thou ponder these momentous happenings in thy heart, so that thou mayest apprehend the greatness of this Revelation, and perceive its stupendous glory. Then shall the spirit of faith, through the grace of the Merciful, be breathed into thy being, and thou shalt be established and abide upon the seat of certitude.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 236)

Spirit, the Master states, may be divided into five categories: vegetable, animal, the human spirit, the spirit of faith, and the Holy Spirit. (Some Answered Questions: 138)  In this post and the next, we will be looking at the relation between the human spirit and the spirit of faith.  But that relation cannot happen except that a higher Spirit, the Holy Spirit, works.  Let’s see what the Masters says about these three levels of spirit.

 “The human spirit may be likened to the bounty of the sun shining on a mirror. The body of man, which is composed from the elements, is combined and mingled in the most perfect form; it is the most solid construction, the noblest combination, the most perfect existence. It grows and develops through the animal spirit….This (human) spirit has the power of discovery; it encompasses all things. All these wonderful signs, these scientific discoveries, great enterprises and important historical events which you know are due to it. From the realm of the invisible and hidden, through spiritual power, it brought them to the plane of the visible. So man is upon the earth, yet he makes discoveries in the heavens. From known realities—that is to say, from the things which are known and visible—he discovers unknown things…Briefly, this power embraces all things.

The fourth degree of spirit is the heavenly spirit; it is the spirit of faith and the bounty of God; it comes from the breath of the Holy Spirit, and by the divine power it becomes the cause of eternal life. It is the power which makes the earthly man heavenly, and the imperfect man perfect.  It makes the impure to be pure, the silent eloquent; it purifies and sanctifies those made captive by carnal desires; it makes the ignorant wise.

The fifth spirit is the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is the mediator between God and His creatures. It is like a mirror facing the sun. As the pure mirror receives light from the sun and transmits this bounty to others, so the Holy Spirit is the mediator of the Holy Light from the Sun of Reality, which it gives to the sanctified realities. It is adorned with all the divine perfections. Every time it appears, the world is renewed, and a new cycle is founded. The body of the world of humanity puts on a new garment. It can be compared to the spring; whenever it comes, the world passes from one condition to another. Through the advent of the season of spring the black earth and the fields and wildernesses will become verdant and blooming, and all sorts of flowers and sweet-scented herbs will grow; the trees will have new life, and new fruits will appear, and a new cycle is founded. The appearance of the Holy Spirit is like this. Whenever it appears, it renews the world of humanity and gives a new spirit to the human realities: it arrays the world of existence in a praiseworthy garment, dispels the darkness of ignorance, and causes the radiation of the light of perfections.” (Some Answered Questions: 143)

Now this seems a simple enough progression.  But here is the twist.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains that: “the spirit of man has two aspects: one divine, one satanic—that is to say, it is capable of the utmost perfection, or it is capable of the utmost imperfection. If it acquires virtues, it is the most noble of the existing beings; and if it acquires vices, it becomes the most degraded existence." (Some Answered Questions: 144)

It is necessary for the human reality to be in two aspects if we are to have self-consciousness and moral choice—all consciousness being awareness of difference and the ability to reason.  Thus, the essence of the human soul is what is known as the rational faculty.  Baha’u’llah stated: “Consider the rational faculty with which God hath endowed the essence of man. Examine thine own self, and behold how thy motion and stillness, thy will and purpose, thy sight and hearing, thy sense of smell and power of speech, and whatever else is related to, or transcendeth, thy physical senses or spiritual perceptions, all proceed from, and owe their existence to, this same faculty.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:163)

But while the rational soul is a creation of God common to all human beings, a level of spirit endowed with reasoning power, which is a “power of discovery” that “encompasses all things”, this soul is an outcome of the processes of the natural creation, and is limited in what it can comprehend by itself.  That is, its reason only comprehends the created things of this world in either their intellectual or sensible forms.  He says, in brief: “The human spirit consists of the rational, or logical, reasoning faculty, which apprehends general ideas and things intelligible and perceptible.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith: 370)

The Master elaborate further in another place, saying: “The first condition of perception in the world of nature is the perception of the rational soul. In this perception and in this power all men are sharers, whether they be neglectful or vigilant, believers or deniers. This human rational soul is God's creation; it encompasses and excels other creatures; as it is more noble and distinguished, it encompasses things. The power of the rational soul can discover the realities of things, comprehend the peculiarities of beings, and penetrate the mysteries of existence. All sciences, knowledge, arts, wonders, institutions, discoveries and enterprises come from the exercised intelligence of the rational soul. There was a time when they were unknown, preserved mysteries and hidden secrets; the rational soul gradually discovered them and brought them out from the plane of the invisible and the hidden into the realm of the visible. This is the greatest power of perception in the world of nature, which in its highest flight and soaring comprehends the realities, the properties and the effects of the contingent beings.” (Some Answered Questions: 215)

Possessing this “greatest power of perception in the world of nature” is not, however, the highest level of spirit that human beings may attain.  There is a higher level which when the soul attains opens new vistas to this power of discovery: “But the human spirit, unless assisted by the spirit of faith, does not become acquainted with the divine secrets and the heavenly realities. It is like a mirror which, although clear, polished and brilliant, is still in need of light. Until a ray of the sun reflects upon it, it cannot discover the heavenly secrets.” (Some Answered Questions: 208-209)  What separates the natural intellect, however brilliant, from a divinely-inspired one is attainment to the spirit of faith.

To summarize: The human soul is in two aspects, a natural or human one that is the outcome of the natural processes of creation, and a divine aspect that lies latent within the reality of the soul awaiting the breath of God to bring it to life.  The divine aspect is the spirit of faith.  The spirit of faith is felt in the heart.  That is the topic of the next post.